The Mayans Essay

The Maya was a very large society that lived in Mexico, South America, The Yucatan Peninsula, Belize, Guatemala, and El Salvador. The capital of the Mayan empire was Tikal, located in Mexico. The Maya had an interesting economy; they valued jade and serpentine more than anything else. They did not use money, they traded goods instead. They traded with other Mesoamerican cultures. Farmers traded coco by traveling long distances with a basket/sack strapped to their back. Merchants traveled in hopes of employing porters, because there were no carts, pack animals or horses.

Their religion had many gods (polytheism) such as the sun god (most important), and the rain god. The king’s blood was considered sacred, as he was considered part god himself. Priests would cut themselves in a ceremony as tribute to the gods. Enemy warriors would be sacrificed. If the sacrifice survived, they would be treated wonderfully the rest of their lives. The first, and most important social class was the ruler. Then the priests and nobles. After that the merchants and craftsmen. Then the peasants, then slaves. The warriors were special and didn’t have a class. The men farmed, hunted and fished. The women cooked, raised the children, weaved, washed clothes/dishes, and took care of the house. The men were the head of the house.

The Mayans had a very efficient
From the late eighth through the end of the ninth century, something unknown happened to shake the Maya civilization to its foundations. One by one, the Classic cities in the southern lowlands were abandoned, and by A.D. 900, Mayan civilization in that region had collapsed. The Mayans developed and spread geographically through some 300,000 square km; they occupied parts of the South of Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, as well as Honduras and El Salvador; they developed a very rich civilization in the area of political organization, as well as in social and economic